As fall rolls around, the next fall musical “The Addams Family” is set to premiere
Freshman Deanna Smith, who is part of the set crew, enjoys hanging out with friends after school. She explains what tasks she must do during set crew to make the show run smoothly.
“Either painting or screwing stuff together, or cleaning,” Smith said.
Freshman Quinn Slaughter, who plays Lucas Beineke, explains why the show goes well.
“You have to be a hard worker at school and the musical if you want it to go well,” Slaughter said.
To the cast and crew, putting on a musical is not easy, a lot of dedication and practice is needed for the final production.
“I went into this musical completely blind, not knowing what to do, and now I have all my lines memorized, all my songs memorized, and all my dances memorized now,” Slaughter said.
Choir teacher and musical director Nick Franssen spends months deciding the next musical, he has a process of selecting the next show.
“We have to look at if we have enough to cast the whole show, what are the requirements for the actors and singers, chorus, this particular one has a crazy high soprano part, so I had to make sure we had somebody who’s going to do the Musical,” Franssen said.
Even the director has favorites, his favorite scene is Act Ⅰ’s ”Full Disclosure”.
“There’s a lot of there’s a lot of good music in this [show],” Franssen said.
Senior Brooklyn Jones, who plays Morticia Addams, enjoys the tension of “Full Disclosure”.
“I just like the tension in it, because there’s secrets that are getting revealed, and I get to be really angry at the end,” Jones said.
The strong tension of a song isn’t the only thing that urges Jones, but also the uncomfortable platform heels she has to wear for her role on stage.
“I can’t dance in them and it’s frustrating, but wearing them more. They hurt less and less each day, so it’s getting better,” Jones said.
Franssen would like to see positive reviews of Augusta’s productions in future years.
“We want lifelong patrons of the art,” Franssen said, “We want people coming back year after year.”
Throughout the show, the audience sees how secrets tear families apart.
“The moral of the story is tell the truth, and don’t keep secrets,” Franssen said.
